The Argument for Making Your Bed Every Day

A few weeks ago, we uncovered a scandal in a MyDomaine meeting. Here, hidden among the team of design aficionados and lifestyle experts upon whom we all depend to help us organize our desks and design our homes, are some nefarious impostors who do not make their beds in the morning. “It’s chic!” they cry. “The romantic, undone look is beautiful!” “We’re not messy,” they say. “We’re creative!” They tried to seduce us with promises of saved time and increased happiness, but friends, I am here to stand up for the side of right, and that side is beautifully making your bed every damn day.

Not just pulling up the duvet to cover your wrinkled sheets, but smoothing your beautiful Sferra linens tight over the mattress, shaking out your light summer quilt or plush down comforter (the seasonal change of bedding is its own special holiday for us bed-makers), and arranging your chosen pillows just so to add depth and texture to the final product. Happiness at home, for me, is somewhere between the snow-white perfection of a five-star hotel and the comfort of my childhood bedroom—a refuge from the demands of the world. And for me (and my soul mates out there), making my bed is where it all starts.

Is it silly to get a feeling of accomplishment from the shaking out of sheets and smoothing of blankets every day? I once worked for an Englishman who used to begin every day by shouting across the office, “Start as you mean to go on!” It’s a vague Britishism with a meaning that varies in context—both an exhortation to set a consistent pattern of behavior and also a variation on the Pinterest favorite “the way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

In other words, if you intend to give your job, your body, and your diet a high level of care and attention that day, don’t start off by getting sloppy with the first task you’re faced with each morning. So no, it’s not a hugely impressive achievement in and of itself, but it sure is easier to remember to put on real shoes and grab a smoothie instead of a chocolate-chip muffin when I’m officially in Doing Things Right mode first thing in the morning.

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Speaking of doing things, the undone messy look is hard, much like how supermodels roll out of bed looking absolutely incredible in jeans and a white T-shirt with messy bedhead. See, when I do the exact same thing, the cashier at CVS cracks jokes about hangovers and/or laundry day. There are certain non-negotiable qualities that make it way easier to get away with doing the bare minimum of bed-making. Instead of enviable bone structure and a $700 haircut, though, it’s $5000 worth of cashmere throws and fine linen blankets and a bedroom the size of an airplane hangar to put it all in.

Seriously, try tossing your Target blanket (heart you, Target) artfully over the corner of your bed sometime and see if it falls like one of those decorator-beloved fur throws. You’re in for a big pile of disappointment. And even if you do find some convincing designer dupes, it’s hard to pull off in any room where your bed takes up the majority of the space, because it leaves the eye without any place to rest. Your bed may look romantic, but without a giant expanse of clean hardwood on either side, your bedroom will just look messy.

But most importantly for busy people, good bed hygiene is good sleep hygiene. If you’re actually paying attention to your sheets and blankets every day, you’ll know when they really need to be washed or even replaced to make sure your bed is a clean, welcoming space. And since you’re much less likely to hang out and binge Stranger Things on a neatly made bed, it remains a sacred space for sleep—which, experts agree, helps make sure you’ll actually get some.

On the rare days that I don’t make my bed, I fluff the pillows and pull up the bedclothes before I get in at night, because pulling back the covers is the first visual cue my body needs that my wind-down ritual has begun. After all, even the most creative people are better after a good night’s sleep. So give a little love every day to that space you spend a third of your life in—you deserve it.

Are you convinced to incorporate this into your morning routine? Shop our cozy bedroom finds to get comfortable before you sound off in the comments.